


Rope Burn

by Bearslayer



Series: The Queens of Gotham [2]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Barbara Kean with feelings, Canon Typical Violence, F/F, Forced Nudity, Guns, Mentions of kidnapping, Revenge Plots, Violence, there will be smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 10:27:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14042241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bearslayer/pseuds/Bearslayer
Summary: When Lee is taken captive by Sofia Falcone, Barbara's feelings for her become infinitely more complicated.Taking place several months after "Do It Better".





	Rope Burn

**Author's Note:**

  * For [witchunters](https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchunters/gifts).



> This was initially just supposed to be simple PWP, but I accidentally gave it depth and forgot the smut in the first chapter.
> 
> Now I have an outline for a full story. This wasn't even supposed to be chaptered until I hit a point where it seemed the only logical thing to do.
> 
> The woes of being a writer, particularly for a rarepair.
> 
> Enjoy!

In the club of women who had had the misfortune of being involved with Jim Gordon, Sofia was the latest and most boisterous member. She seemed to be the least affected by his apparent curse, not yet ruined in some way by him. She was playing him like a fool, and Barbara couldn't help but find amusement in it. She always reveled in Jim's suffering, particularly when it was executed by a woman. Barbara had been making nice with the woman the way she had been with Lee, though it was far less intimate with Sofia than with the Good Doctor. Not that she hadn't tried at least a little, of course. It was becoming something of a personal goal to not only fuck every woman Jim did, but to do so in a way that the thought of being with him again held no appeal. Really, the _only_ person Barbara had been with of late was the Doc.

After their first encounter, Babs and Lee had parted ways with a kiss and the promise of more. Now and then Barbara would get a message; 'meet me at the Rose', or 'find me in the Narrows'. It was the sort of vague message Barbara ate right up, pursuing the other woman immediately. Once Lee had even come to Sirens when she felt the itch, to Barbara's surprise. It had been a busy night, the club packed with people, but Barbara spotted her immediately. It was hard not to spot her when she was wearing such a beautiful red salsa dress, one that hugged her hips and breasts perfectly. She had gone to strike up conversation only to find that Lee had come for a singular purpose, taking her hand and placing it on her thigh. She was delighted to find that the other woman had purchased a strap-on and had come to try it out.

She had to laugh when she saw it matched the dress.

There was something incredibly compelling, alluring, _desirable_ about the person that Lee had become. Barbara didn't bother with the thought of a real relationship, not with the tempestuous nature of their lives at that time. They gave each other what they needed, when they needed it, and there was no pretense of attachment outside of that. They enjoyed each other when they were around each other, but when they were apart, they lived their lives.

Tabitha wasn't a fan of the arrangement Barbara and Lee seemed to have arrived at, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Tabby-cat had been giving her the cold shoulder ever since they had found that giant gray lummox who was admittedly much more pleasant to be around since he lost his grasp on English. Just as it had been before the two of them had died, Tabitha was snubbing her for Butch. Barbara loved her, and maybe always would, but knew that Tabby would never really be hers. It was admittedly much easier to stay jealousy's hand once you've been killed by the person you love. Nowadays she and Tabitha were still a team, co-parenting a teenage kleptomaniac like amicable divorcees. All of the responsibility, none of the sex. Ever since they learned that Butch was still alive, they had settled into the dreaded bed-death that Barbara had hoped wouldn't come for years.

It was a bit of a drag.

When Sofia had blasted herself into Gotham's underground, usurping Penguin and declaring herself Queen, Barbara had positioned herself to be of use. She and Tabitha got on her good side by keeping distance from the feud between the beauty and the bird, providing little things here and there (guns, an appearance now and again, but never information). She knew how Gotham worked. There was always an uprising, followed by a fall, and repeat. She had been on every side of Gotham's many civil wars, and now she chose to stay an outlier to get herself into a better position for the inevitable Fall of the Falcone Dynasty that would take place.

She had _planned_ to stay on the outside, at least.

But then Sofia decided to use Lee as a bargaining chip against Jim. Getting Oswald thrown into Arkham was one thing; at least that had gotten Babs and Tabs their club back. But holding Lee captive? That was just wrong. Even Selina was irked by it, knowing the good that Lee had been doing for the people of the Narrows, and Selina didn't care about much of anything. Tabitha wasn't bothered, but Barbara figured that was due to the assassin being busy consorting with her own personal Frankenstein's Monster. No, when the news reached Barbara that Sofia had squirreled Thompkins away and trapped her in the basement of her home, Barbara decided that neutrality was no longer for her.

She didn't react outright, of course. No, that sort of headstrong action would get her nailed to a wall before she could get to Lee, and not in the fun way. She played it cool. When she learned from an associate that the Doctor had been locked away, she barely reacted but to smile the smile of someone whose old rival had gotten a long-overdue comeuppance. Inside, though, Barbara was seething and plotting. She was already on Sofia's good side, so it was only a matter of getting her exactly where she wanted her.

Though she respected the gangster, Barbara had the unfortunate task of either humiliating her or backstabbing her in a literal sense to free Lee. Having a woman in power was a wonderful thing, but Sofia had taken something surprisingly precious to her and locked it away. Barbara absolutely _hated_ having people taken from her. It stuck in her craw the way nothing else could, reminded her of past hurts that she would rather not revisit... and reopened fresh wounds that were still very much sore. Renee had left, Jim had moved on, Jason... well, Jason had broken her, Tabitha continually chose Butch over her, Ra's had ditched her and died, and now... Now she had Lee. She knew they couldn't be _together_ in the conventional sense, but she would be damned if she allowed someone else to leave or be taken from her.

The simplicity of her plan was how Barbara knew it would work. Too often in Gotham did people aim for the convoluted thought process, the overly complicated scheme. Her idea was simple and old-school; seduce the gangster or get her too drunk to care. She wouldn't kill Sofia since she happened to be fairly fond of her, but she needed to let her know that she was a bit too overconfident. Barbara had taken her licks in the past. Now it was Falcone's turn.

She knew Sofia was cocky enough to have Barbara over to the house without fear that she would do something about the woman in the basement. She knew that Sofia was also unaware of her fondness for Lee; secrets were more valuable than riches in Gotham, so she knew to keep her own close to the chest.

Barbara went to Sofia's place under the simple guise of needing to vent. She stomped into the manor, shoving past the guards, demanding they call Sofia down. She would play at being angry with Tabitha and needing to vent. She had build up enough of a rapport with the woman that casual talks weren't unheard of. They were similar in ways, with Sofia's ability to manipulate rivaling (but not surpassing) her own and her love of power and booze.

“Babs! Come on up – oh, you look mad.” Sofia said as Barbara was allowed in, the guards at the door parting like the seas for her.

“I'm just a **little** irked that all the effort I go to to maintain a relationship with this woman is constantly under-appreciated! I bought her a specially made whip with little studs on the tail that match her favorite catsuit. It was imported from Italy. It cost a **fortune** and she just said 'oh, thanks', and it's been just sitting in the office all day! She just left it there!” Barbara rambled, playing the part of jilted girlfriend well; as far as Sofia knew, the two were still together.

“That's just rude!” Sofia pouted, walking with her up the stairs.

It didn't take much to paint the picture convincingly enough that Sofia was soon offering consolation drinks. They spent a good hour bemoaning the evils of Gotham, Sofia getting comfortable and a little tipsy along the way. Barbara decided to take the easiest route to get what she needed; a little sleight of hand trick she had learned from her little Cat dumped powdered sleeping pills into Sofia's third drink.

It didn't take long for the effect to take hold.

“What's going on... Barbara, what did y...” Sofia mumbled, lurching towards her, brain in a fog.

“Shh, shh, just go to sleep. You drank too much, that's all. That's what happens when you get in over your head. Sleep it off, gangster.” Barbara wrapped her arms around the woman, lowering her to the sofa and waiting for her to give in to sleep. From inside her bra, Barbara pulled a pre-written note, placing it in Sofia's hand. It was sealed with a lipstick-smeared kiss.

“ _I hate to do this, Sofia, but I don't have much of a choice. I trust you won't be very happy with me moving forward, but that's the price we pay. Find another way to manipulate Gordon. Maybe try taking his annoying partner instead. Hope we can be friends again someday, if someone doesn't blow your head off in the meantime. Just be happy I didn't burn down your building while you slept._

_Next time, don't take what isn't yours._

_Kisses!_

_Babs ♥”_

The guards were simple enough to dispatch. She had become a crack shot over the years, and with a silenced pistol she felled the two outside the door. She wasn't sure how many were guarding Lee in the basement, but made the safe assumption that it wasn't many. Barbara didn't care about or bother with stealth as she sought out the basement stairs, fully aware of the cameras watching her movements. It didn't matter to her if she was seen when the footage was watched, if it was watched.

Let Sofia come for her in all her self-righteous rage. Let her attack her at Sirens, the club she had helped them to retake. Barbara didn't care; all she cared about was what was happening right then, and as another two bullets lodged in the skulls of another two guards, she was calm. There were multiple rooms in the basement, and none of them had windows to see in or out; any of them could hold Lee, or additional guards. When she came across one asleep in what appeared to be a little break room, she ended his life just to prove a point.

The point was not just that Lee was hers; the point was that Barbara was not to be trifled with in any way. It had taken her all of ten minutes to effectively leave Sofia completely vulnerable with no guards and her passed out upstairs. If Barbara so desired, she could slit Sofia's throat with her own knives, leaving her to bleed out alone, surrounded by ruin. That she chose not to showed another level of power. It showed that Sofia was of no consequence in Gotham's grand scheme, not to Barbara. She had weathered far worse storms in her time.

She came to the last door of the basement, taking a deep breath as she unlocked the bolts with keys lifted off the break-room sleeper.

The way her heart dropped into her stomach at the sight of her was alarming. She shook her head, brushing off the sudden influx of worry that flittered in her throat, allowing a thick blanket of irritation to smother it. Irritation at her concern; she was rescuing Leslie because she was **hers** , nothing else. It would be too much work to find someone else who knew how to press her buttons just right, and she just didn't have the time.

“Lee?” Barbara said softly.

The room was appalling. The walls were unfinished, unlike the rest of the ones in the basement. Did Sofia decide to strip the drywall just for that exposed-concrete-and-rebar ambiance? It smelled like a cave, and the only thing in the room was a single chair that clearly wasn't meant to hold an adult. Lee was tied to it with knot-work that Tabby would have wanted to take notes on, a sort of artful but excessive shibari. There was a gag in her mouth, and her eyes were covered in with a long strip of cloth in such a way that her ears seemed blocked as well. She was naked beneath the ropes, presumably for the sake of additional humiliation.

Barbara moved to her, untying the gag.

“Let me go, you bitch!” Lee shouted immediately, her voice hoarse, words spoken through a split lip. Barbara felt a surge of pride. She might have been a little disappointed to find her spirit broken, but there was fight in her still. She untied the cloth around her eyes and ears.

The way her heart pounded at the fire in Lee's eyes was something she couldn't explain. She meant to give some snappy retort, but instead found herself leaning down to kiss the side of her mouth, hands holding her cheeks. When had she become so considerate as to avoid an injury? She took another heavy breath, leaning back. She smirked pointedly, though she had to force herself to do so.

“That's no way to talk to your savior.” She said, though all of her normal sassy poise had drained. One of Lee's eyes was swollen, healing from a punch, but her eyes still stunned the blonde. Just as the snark had left Barbara's voice, the anger faded from Lee's face, eyes softening.

“Barbara?” She mumbled.

“In the flesh, darling.” She chuckled, mainly as a way to ignore her own emotions. She moved out of her line of sight to begin working on the ropes.

“You... You came to save me?” Lee's voice was soft and small. There was a hint of confusion there that caused an unwelcome pang in Barbara's chest.

“Did you really think I'd let her keep you here?” Barbara said it more harshly than she should have.

“I – I didn't know what to expect. I didn't think anyone knew I was here. I feel like I've been here for a week.” Barbara didn't have to look at her face to know she was beginning to cry.

“It's okay baby, I'm getting you out of here. You're safe, and I'll fucking kill her the second I get a chance.” Barbara mumbled, producing a little knife from her boot. Another trick Tabby had taught her. You never knew when you would need a blade; whether it be for freeing someone precious or stabbing the opposition, it was always useful to have one on hand. The knots were tight, but Barbara was so furious that she made short work of them.

“You _can't_. She has something planned, and most of the city is under her thumb. If she dies, you'll have every idiot with a gun within a ten mile radius breathing down your neck.” Lee said softly.

“Oh, she's going down, one way or another.” Barbara said as she cut her first hand free from where it was tucked in a painful looking way behind the back of the chair.

“In time.” Lee agreed, closing her eyes.

When Barbara saw her other hand, she had to bite back the wave of nausea that hit. It had been brutalized and very obviously not cared for correctly, the bandages covering it filthy, soaked with blackened blood. She cut the hand free, examining her as she bit her lip.

“She hit it with a hammer. Several times. I haven't been able to feel it in about a day... they gave me pills while I was here, said they were antibiotics.” Lee said, pulling it to her once it was loose.

“Well, I know a guy that can get you gun-hand installed instead of a normal prosthetic if you lose it.” Barbara tried to make light, though she felt ill.

“How about a flamethrower?” Lee returned, giving a soft groan as she moved her stiff limbs.

“Baby we can get you hooked up with anything you want, as long as we use it to knock that asshole off her pedestal.” Barbara muttered, helping her strip the ropes from her body. She regarded her sadly, shaking her head. Her rage was palpable, but she kept it inside, a tight little ball of fury welling up inside her chest.

“Barbara... I'm alright. I just want to get out of here.” Lee said softly, her un-wounded arm shifting to hide herself. She wouldn't meet her eyes, and Barbara knew what she was feeling. It was shame. It was overwhelming humiliation.

“... Did any of them do anything to you, Lee?” Barbara asked. She would tear Sofia limb from limb. She would peel her skin off while she was still alive, she would gut her, string her organs –

“Babs, no. No, nothing like that. She didn't let them do anything like that. She's cruel, but even she has a line.” Lee said, bringing her hand up to touch Barbara's face. The touch was soothing, cool, causing the cloud of awful anger to dissipate. She was still going to kill Sofia, but would consider giving her a less painful death. That the thought was even able to cross Barbara's mind had drained away any respect she had for Sofia, cementing her resolve. 

“Good.” Barbara said, pulling off her thick fur coat and wrapping it around Lee's shoulders. “Let's get you some clothes then get the hell out of here.”

 


End file.
